The
Lord Jesus Christ warned His followers, "Beware of the
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matt. 7:15). The warning was
important because Jesus later said to them: "Behold, I send
you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as
serpents, and innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16). The apostle
Paul, with a deeply troubled spirit and in tears, penned a
similar warning: "I know that after my departure savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts
20:29). Throughout church history these warnings concerning
professing Christians who deceive even the elect have seldom
been taken seriously. How can the church be so easily deceived?
According to Webster’s Dictionary "deceive"
means "to lead astray or to cause to accept as true or
valid what is false or invalid." Could it be the church has
not only lost its ability to discern truth from error but also
to discern wolves from sheep?

Consider Brennan Manning, an inactive Roman
Catholic priest, who has some obvious characteristics of a
"wolf," yet goes mostly undetected. In the last ten
years, he has become a popular speaker in many
"evangelical" churches. Manning was ordained to the
Franciscan priesthood after graduating from St. Francis Seminary
in 1963. Later he was theology instructor at the University of
Steubenville (a Catholic seminary and catalyst for Mary to be
named co-redeemer). After being treated for alcoholism and
leaving the Franciscan Order in 1982, he married Roslyn Ann
Walker. The marriage has since ended in divorce but his
popularity as a writer and speaker continues to grow despite his
proclamation of "another" gospel.

The teachings of Manning are charming,
seductive, cunning and dangerous as he takes advantage of his
undiscerning audiences. He teaches that you can overcome fear,
guilt and psychological hang-ups, even alcoholism, through
meditation. His meditation techniques are drawn from a mixture
of eastern mysticism, psychology, the New Age Movement and
Catholicism. Manning gives the impression that he has a very
intimate relationship with God and reports having many visions,
encounters and conversations with Him. He assures his audiences
that if they apply his teachings, they too can become more
intimate with God.

I first met Manning at the Christian
Booksellers Association in New Orleans last summer. As he was
signing autographs for his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, I
asked him if his "ragamuffin gospel" followed the
Catholic plan of salvation or the biblical plan of salvation. He
responded, "Read it and find out for yourself." Still
trying to gain insight into his theology, I gave him a tract I
had written called Roman Catholicism: Scripture vs. Tradition
and asked for his comments. After looking at it for a couple of
minutes he tore it into pieces and threw it in the trash.

The next time I saw Manning was January 21st
at Hillcrest Church, a growing congregation of over 5,000
members in north Dallas. Manning’s message was about our need
for a second conversion, a conversion that can only take place
when one overcomes self-rejection and gains esteem through
self-acceptance. How contradictory were his words with the words
of Christ! "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke
9:23). After the service I asked two elders of Hillcrest Church
how they could allow a Roman Catholic priest speak to their
congregation. Their response—"we welcome everyone who
loves God"—was a fulfillment of Paul’s prophetic words:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own
desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will
turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

All Mankind is Redeemed

As with many such teachers who gain popularity
by tickling ears, Manning overemphasizes the love and grace of
God while ignoring His attributes of justice, righteousness and
holiness. He teaches that Jesus has redeemed all of mankind. His
"good news" is that everyone is already saved. Among
those Manning believes he will see in heaven is "the
sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his
body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his
last ‘trick,’ whispers the name of the unknown God."1
Manning’s theology opposes God’s word again and again:
"those who practice such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:21). "He who believes in the
Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
Accordingly, the only faith Manning thinks sinners need is to
"trust the love of God."

This is a major theme of The Ragamuffin
Gospel, "trusting the love of God," because God
loves you no matter what you do. There is no call to
sanctification or holiness. Instead Manning excuses sin as human
weakness that God will tolerate regardless of whether the sinner
is repentant or not. In saying this, Manning has turned
"the grace of our God into licentiousness" (Jude 4).
He writes: "False gods—the gods of human understanding—despise
sinners, but the Father of Jesus loves all, no matter what they
do. But of course this is almost too incredible for us to
accept."2 Yes, too incredible because it violates God’s
word: "Thou dost hate all who do iniquity" (Psalm
5:5).

Stop Thinking About God

In The Signature of Jesus, another one
of Manning’s books, he teaches his readers how to pray, using
an eight-word mantra.3 He says, "the first step in faith is
to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer" (p. 212).
The second step is "without moving your lips, repeat the
sacred word [or phrase] inwardly, slowly, and often." If
distractions come, "simply return to listening to your
sacred word" (p. 218). He also encourages his readers to
"celebrate the darkness" because "the ego has to
break; and this breaking is like entering into a great
darkness" (p. 145). Jesus said, "He who follows me
shall not walk in the darkness" (John 8:12).

The Spirit of Antichrist

Manning often cites Catholic saints, humanist
philosophers, heretics, monks and medieval mystics. Some of the
monks he quotes maintain that salvation is really a
transformation of consciousness to be awakened to the oneness of
all creation. Possibly the most dangerous practice and teaching
of Manning is his New Age mind-emptying method of meditation.
This is an open invitation to satanic activity. Many of the
expressions and techniques Manning employs in The Signature
of Jesus are not found in the Scriptures such as: centering
prayer, paschal spirituality, the discipline of the secret,
contemplative spirituality, mineralization, practicing the
presence, inner integration, yielding to the Center, notional
knowledge, contemporary spiritual masters and masters of the
interior life. Extra-biblical spiritual practices can only
produce confusion. They originate from the father of lies in
whom there is no truth. What a contrast Manning is to the way
Paul described the first century teachers. He said: "We
have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use
deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary,
by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every
man’s conscience in the sight of God." (2 Cor. 4:2)

Manning rarely uses Scripture and shows his
disdain for those who do and for those who believe "The
Word was God" (John 1:1). He writes: "I am deeply
distressed by what I only can call in our Christian culture the
idolatry of the Scriptures. For many Christians, the Bible is
not a pointer to God but God himself. In a word—bibliolatry.…
I develop a nasty rash around people who speak as if mere
scrutiny of its pages will reveal precisely how God thinks and
precisely what God wants" (p. 188). He criticize several
churches he visited, where "religiosity has pushed Jesus to
the margins of real life and plunged people into preoccupation
with their own personal salvation" (p. 193).

Although Manning believes and teaches the
life, death, and resurrection of Christ, The Signature of
Jesus is not a guide to follow Jesus, but to follow
"the masters of the interior life." Paul wrote,
"For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of
their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech
they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting" (Rom. 16:18).

Manning reinterprets some of the most
essential biblical truths in the light of psychological healing.
He looks upon "human nature as fallen but redeemed, flawed
but in essence good" (p. 125). His instruction to meditate
on nothingness instead of God’s Word is an exercise of modern
occultism. This practice invites demonic influence and contact
with the spirit world. Manning’s Catholic mysticism has no
place in the true Church of Jesus Christ.

Christian leaders should warn others about
Manning and all "deceitful workers who masquerade as
apostles of Christ" (2 Cor. 11:13). They must be exposed
(Eph. 5:11). We all live in days of great deception. May God
give His church the gift of discernment as we take Paul’s
warning seriously: "See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception, according to the
tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the
world, rather than according to Christ" (Col. 2:8).